What's emerging from the press corps are wildly different scenarios as to what transpired in the negotiations between the Clippers and Elton Brand.

Mark Heisler's headline reads, "Donald Sterling can't be blamed for Elton Brand's departure." Heisler maintains, "Whether that was Falk's influence or that Brand was impressed by the 76ers, he now seemed to be looking for a way to leave rather than a way to stay. Brand was slow in returning calls to Clippers officials. Whenever they made an offer, Falk would take it back to the 76ers." This isn't necessarily to say that the Clipper front office managed the negotiations with aplomb, but a credible veteran reporter.

The Associated Press tells a different story: "Forced by an ultimatum Brand would not accept, the would-be movie mogul and two-time NBA All-Star instead opted to take his production east and see his name roll on the credits of Philadelphia's roster. The AP report claims, "The deal was nearly $20 million less than what Brand signed for in Philadelphia." This would mean the Clippers put only $60M on the table, a number that contradicts virtually every other account of the negotiations.

In an on-air interview with ESPN, Brand says, "My intentions were totally to stay in L.A...But in the negotiations with my agent, David Falk, we asked for some things. And it fell through." Those things could include anything from a sixth year to a no-trade clause. If the AP is to believed, it may also have included additional millions.

Adrian Wojnarowski at Yahoo! Sports supports the AP claim that the Clippers bungled the negotiations. "Once Mike Dunleavy pushed past David Falk and reached out to Elton Brand, appealed to his star’s sensibilities and sentimentality for his Clippers’ home, the belief was that the most cunning and cutthroat agent of them all decided to treat this end-around as an act of treason." But Wojnarowski also reports that the Clippers were willing to come correct, and that Falk's vindictiveness drove the proceedings. "Owner Donald Sterling was willing to renounce several players to nearly match the Sixers’ $82 million offer, but the Clips could never be sure that Falk ever presented Brand with the information."

J.J. Adande takes a facile approach and ascribes the outcome to the stitching on the front of the uniform and the fact that "They're the Clippers," though he also allows for the fact that "[Brand] got selfish."

Marty Burns at SI takes an even approach. He writes, " Ultimately, Brand made the decision himself. He is a grown man. He knows what he is doing." But Burns also offers this defense of Brand: "Brand never said he would definitely re-sign with the Clippers. He merely said it was his intention to do so. Maybe he was being slightly disingenuous. It certainly appears now as if he wanted to get out of L.A. all along." Whatever Brand's intentions, though, Burns concludes, "the bottom line is that the Clippers didn't get it done. Brand gave seven long years of sweat and blood to the Clippers. It's hard to blame him for wanting to play for an up-and-coming team closer to home, especially when that team made it clear how much it wanted him."

The time to extend Brand was last offseason, though it's entirely possible that Brand had every intention on testing free agency. The bottom line is that few people will ever have a full chronicle of Brand's negotiations with the Clippers over the years, though I tend to agree with Burns' conclusion that the onus ultimately rests with the team's executives. I won't fully excoriate them because I'm not furnished with the whole story. But coffee is for closers.

UPDATE: Lots of stuff in this analysis from Abrams at the LAT and this one from Ramona Shelburne at the Daily News. The backs-and-forth are starting to get ugly.

Dunleavy"After I supposedly gave him a take-it-or-leave-it offer, we raised the offer to $75 million and $81 million. They can spin this thing any way they want to try and spin it. The bottom line is, anything Elton ever wanted I did it for him. They stopped having communication with us more than a week ago." "I can show text messages to Falk and all those things, (that we) made a verbal deal. You don't have to keep a verbal deal. It's not binding. You can say, 'You know what? I changed my mind I want to go to the East Coast because my wife's family is there. Or it's easier to make the playoffs. Or I can be an All-Star in the East as opposed to the West.' But just say it: We had a verbal deal and I just changed my mind."BrandBrand reiterated that he felt the Clippers' first offer was a take-it-or-leave it demand: "That's exactly what it was. Or that's what they said it was. And then, they came back and matched. But it's like, 'OK, do that the first time.' "

"That could have been a good team and a real special team. But sometimes, enough is enough...I wish them well. They're not bad people and this isn't like a get-out-of-jail card."

Falk"In free agency, everything is compressed...You don't have time to play ping-pong. When they said $70 [million], I took it for face value. It was too much of a sacrifice, that's all."Falk said that he found out, belatedly, that the Clippers had been negotiating with Brand without his agent. "I didn't know it then, I know it now...I know it after the fact. It's probably the reason that the deal fell apart."

"What you want when you're a franchise player you want to feel that you're wanted," Falk said. "And I think it was very disturbing to feel that ... it was basically accept it or don't accept it.

"That's a very difficult position to accept when you're a player of Elton's stature and you've done as much for the franchise as Elton has over the past seven years. I think that set in motion a chain of events that led us here today."

The story also includes these impressions: "Others in the Clippers organization, including some of Brand's former teammates, believed a deal had been locked in place with him, especially after a verbal agreement was reached with free-agent point guard Baron Davis. Brand had text messaged teammates that he was excited about the prospects of the team, according to NBA sources who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to talk about player movements."

Posted Wednesday, October 29 at 3:20PM

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"Things were said that are totally not true, they're used out of context as far as ultimatiums. The ultimatium that was made was whether to opt out or not opt out, not as far as a deal," Dunleavy said.

"I can show text messages to Falk and all those things, (that we) made a verbal deal. You don't have to keep a verbal deal. It's not binding. You can say, 'You know what? I changed my mind I want to go to the East Coast because my wife's family is there. Or it's easier to make the playoffs. Or I can be an All-Star in the East as opposed to the West.' But just say it: We had a verbal deal and I just changed my mind."

It's clear. Clippers didn't want to bet on their future by giving Elton max deal. And they didn't think he is the ONE who CAN take this franchise to next level. He had his chance during last 7 seasons. Enough is enough. One season he spent his summer producing a movie. Another season he fulfilled his desire to serve his country by playing in Olympics. And last season he played just 8 games.

I think Brand is not the answer that Philly thinks of him. Philly got eliminated in the first round. They gave competition to the Pistons only because they did not take them seriously.

Trust me, they will never get to the finals. There center is not Kaman, the point guard produced the same numbers Sammy did in the playoff year. Iguodala points average is 17ppg not Maggette numbers. Also, they got rid of most of there bench trying to make cap space for E Bitch/

Jgroove, maybe he did..but you have to give credence to the fact that this was EB's lone shot at true free agency while in the prime of his career. That matters, and any of you that say this is shit are saying so emotionally and not thinking it through.

Look, I know this sucks for Clips fans.. but how can you fault EB for seeing what else was out there if you felt the Clips were dis-respecting you when its time to negotiate a new market deal ???

Especially when you still hold ill will towards the Clips for the last round of negotiations when the Clips let Miami set the price ??

It's pitiful how most are quick to paint EB as the villian here without thinking it through when its the Clips are the ones with the rep of being cheap and not paying their players etc., and EB had such an pristine public image. Not saying EB had no hand in this unfolding the way it did, but come on people, stop being so emotional and look at the facts.. those that have been presented (although only presented by EB and Falk thus far).

If it was the no-trade..you're the F-en Clips..give it to him!

If it was respect..give it to him..what the F ??

As it was when this negotiation started..your move, Clips. Let's see what they have to say for themselves about this.

<i>
"We felt like Elton was a great player and with the lineup we had, with getting (free-agent point guard) Baron Davis, we feel like that really would have put us in the hunt as far as the playoffs and going deep into the playoffs. I don't know why he made the decision.

"I loved the guy. I don't know what poisoned him against us, but up until the last text message I had from him, I did everything he asked me to do, period. I'm shocked by it because of how much I loved the guy as a player and how close I thought we were."

[...]

The Clippers thought they had a verbal agreement with the forward on a five-year, $70 million contract offer last week, according to Dunleavy. Instead, Brand listened to offers from other teams, then wanted the Clippers to raise their offer, which they did, first to $75 million, then to $81 million.

<i>"After I supposedly gave him a take-it-or-leave-it offer, we raised the offer to $75 million and $81 million. They can spin this thing any way they want to try and spin it. The bottom line is, anything Elton ever wanted I did it for him. They stopped having communication with us more than a week ago."</i>

Since Isiah Dunce was directly involved in the negotiations..and once Isiah Dunce gave EB the ultimatum, and by nature coaches live by these, well, because they are coaches- they know no other way. Especially with Isiah Dunce, he loves the control and this is how he's programmed to operate. It's not his fault that he was given control..that would be on DTS.

So in essence what happened was EB understood that the only way he would be able to come back was accept Isiah Dunces ultimatum, which was a low-ball number and when that wasn't acceptible to EB, he knew he could not play for him anymore. You can not say "no" to a coach and expect to get fair treatment if a deal is eventually worked out and you end up playing for them. Especially with a stubborn and "proud" coach like Isiah.Evidence: Maggs two seasons ago with Isiah Dunce giving minuets to Ross and girly man Christie out of pure spite.

Fellas, this is what GMs are for, and why coaches should not have roles like this in contract negotiations. This is on DTS, period, cause Isiah Dunce should not have been anywhere near this. It's all so crystal clear to me now.

You still don't get it, the quote from Dumblevy (yes, even I don't like him but... this is all on Brand)

"After I supposedly gave him a take-it-or-leave-it offer, we raised the offer to $75 million and $81 million. They can spin this thing any way they want to try and spin it. The bottom line is, anything Elton ever wanted I did it for him. They stopped having communication with us more than a week ago."

The quote is all sarcasm about the ultimatum. Notice the "supposedly"... in other words there was never an ultimatum. EB still was lying about that "take-it-or-leave-it"

LoyVaught..I definitely do get it..when in negotiations such as this, the Clips came out weak when they were in no position to do so. Again, I think there was too much arrogance on the part of the Clips and they could have shown alot more negotiation tact. EB said that when the Clips finally came up to where Philly was, they were finalizing the deal. With such a amall window like this, dals move really fast. By nature, they have to. I don't see EB as doing anything wrong here EXCEPT choose his words extremely poorly cause he made it sound like he was going to give the Clips a huge hometown deal when this wasn't teh case. The Clips are at fault here for being dumb enough to believe that.

This is a great article from Adande quoting everyone, including Roeser giving a blow by blow of how it went from their side. I'm shocked to say I believe management's story -- he basically says they came up with a plan to offer Baron $65 and Elton $70 and that Elton was on board with it. Then when Elton started looking for more, they upped the offer. Falk's comments are not credible and seem inconsistent.

As to Adande's point that the Clips should have offered the absolute max and then negotiated down, like Gilbert did with the Wizards, I think he misses the fact that the Clippers were already near their absolute maximum offer without renouncing the rights to the entire bench (excepting TT and Brevin). If Brand signaled get Baron and then around $70 will work for me, then he put the Clips in a bad spot to start and one that he probably never thought they would advance as far as they did.

JA Adande seems to have his finger on the pulse of the "situation" and as to exactly how it all went down (his contacts are legit, anyways). read this: http://sports.espn.go.com/n...
Seems plain as day to me. Faulk is a scumbag. That, combined with the ineptitude of the Clippers management made this whole debacle possible. I'm leaning towards Faulk being more of a scumbag as the main factor in this seething breakup, as it were.

"But can it really be called an ultimatum when the Clippers showed a willingness to negotiate? Wouldn't that just be called an initial offer? These things happen at the negotiating table.

[...]

"When it became clear they were more interested in more money, we increased the offer to $75 million," Roeser said. "When it became clear they were looking for most they can get, we ended up offering $81 million. They ended up [signing for] $79.8 million."
It was the player not willing to negotiate after agreeing (verbally) to the 70 million. The Clippers accommodated to his every move.

The Plashke article up now is the most intelligent piece. At the end of the day, one can analyze agents and owners and phone calls not returned - but the truth is, EB didn't want to be here anymore, so he made the call. And he left, when he didn't have to. So let's move on.

How many times have any of you stood up for him or the Clips with your myopic Laker friends or colleagues? How many times did you defend him as an All Star when he didn't make the team and should have? Clipper fans embraced Elton because he portrayed himself as a good guy. A guy who believed in team first, not the individual -- the antithesis of Kobe's Lakers. Now, because the Clips didn't SIGNIFICANTLY KISS HIS *** enough he moves on? Right. He moved on because he always intended too. And the fans that unilaterally supported him in LA (after he was never embraced in Chicago) shouldn't be upset?

Elton. If you're reading this, enjoy Philadelphia. If you think our anger is anything compared to theirs when the 76ers don't get past the first round you're in for a rude awakening.

i am a fun of clippers fun from Greece.EB wanted to leave.It's so simple.In my opinion, the guy is not a true leader,he was affraid to share the load with Baron Davis and the tough competion in West.True leader was Sam Cassel.So,there is no need to cry over hidden milk

Falk seems like a sleaze bag who would say whatever, and he may have kept information from Elton, but I get the feeling Elton just wanted a change of scenery. And did you see that big smile at the press conference from Sahara! She's from Jersey apparently, and that must be where grandma is.
It's OK for EB to want to be back there, but why the hell didn't he say so, instead of leading on the fans and the team?
The bottom line is, the Clippers are, even though Sterling is now willing to spend money, an organization that just doesn't take care of business, doesn't dot the i's and cross the t's, so they will always suffer for that.

All this is a load of smoking shit from Brand. He's turned to lies and smokescreens to try to fool some fools. Not hard. He was never going to sign with the Clippers. Unfortunately, he has a tendancy to tell people what they want to hear (especially when it can benefit him), kinda like got him in all those lawsuits in the movie business. Brand is just making up this bull to cover up the double-cross he pulled. It's lame adn shameful and I'm surprised anyone is buying the pile Brand is selling. Must be because people think the Clippers are a gang of fools so they must have screwed the pooch. Not so here, I'm aftraid. Brand did all the humping. It also sounds like he isn't as independent as I thought and maybe allowed this Falk to lead him like a hapless child.

Oh yeah, the Clips dissed me. They didn't make me feel loved. They didn't kick the 575K of Paul Davis into my back pocket quick enough! I needed that to furnish my new crib in Philly with the 4 inch thick security bars so that the crack pipe smoking pushers and pimps can't get to my shit!

I am a new employee here at the Clippers. I just started working here but I have always been a fan first and now, an employee, second.

I know what you are going through. In fact, I have come across your name on Clipperblog today many a time today. You know I feel misled. The whole organization feels misled. The Clippers did try to secure EB but David Falk is very smart with his words, trying to get others to think otherwise. You said the Clippers weren’t trying but we got EB what he wanted: Baron Davis. But EB was the one that backstabbed me, you and Clipper Nation. We got him everything he wanted but he still stepped away from what? A 1 million dollar difference?

Again, I mentioned that I am a new employee. Basically, my manager told me that actually we would need a letter from you instead of an email to confirm this refund. Again, you still have your great seats. Hold off a little bit and take some time. We will recover from this.

Please send it to the address under my name in this email. Todd, please re-consider this choice. [...] You seem like you know a lot about the Clippers and I am sorry to hear that you are upset but we are all in the same boat as you.

Give it some time and send in the refund letter into the office if you feel like it is the best way to go."

Watching him cuddle up to his new friends in Philadelphia on Wednesday, the sad confusion streaming out of his mouth in short, awkward bursts, you just wanted Elton Brand to tell the truth.

The truth is, he just didn't want to be a Clipper.The organization folks thought he liked them. He barely tolerated them.The Clipper Nation thought he loved them. He barely noticed them.
If only he had been man enough to tell the Clippers the truth.
He never liked it here, and couldn't wait to leave, and is now thrilled he is gone.

For seven years, he pretended to be an Angeleno, becoming so familiar here he was simply known as "Elton."

Now that we have seen the real person, we will forever know him by another singular, five-letter name, that of "Boooo."

What annoys me is this take it or leave it crap. Would you really want elton brand, kaman, gordon, thornton, thomas, knight, davis, mobley and 4 korolevs to fill the bench ? Fuck brand and faulk they didn't want to stay OK. Don't fuck around with your fans for weeks then leave.
Anywho why is okafor going unnoticed ? He's like elton brand without the offense. He's 14 and 10 and 2.7 blocks. He's a PF and plays defense. Josh smith is a great player but with gordon, thornton and davis there's really no need for him to be jacking up shots. He's too small to play PF and god knows tim thomas can't. That guy is so lazy all he does is catch and shoot 3's. We need a true pf and okafor doesn't want to stay in charlotte otherwise he wouldn't keep turning down their offers.

Fuck brand hope his achilles is fucked hope iguodala gets a huge raise and they go way over the cap and get embarressed in the first round preferrably by the celtics to half a crowd like last year. Then comes to clippers home game and gets blown out by 90 points then eb gets blocked by okafor or smith 5 times in a row and gets booed everytime he touches the ball and staples chants something along the lines of fuck brand. Then get dunked over and teabagged by thornton or smith a la vince carter. Have fun in fucking philly which utterly sucks in comparison to la. You're not going have any fans becuase philly sports fans only care about the sixers when they're winning. I hope david faulk rapes u. Thanks. I think im done now. Elton who ? John ?

Loy, ya man, I can see the Clips bewilderment during this process after seeing something from their side.

It's painfully clear that EB most definitely wanted out..and he was looking for a means to do so the entire time. But Philly ?? Really? He wanted out of LA and the Clipper situation that bad to go to shithole Philly? This is the part that makes ZERO sense to me.

Perhaps the Clips didn't display the best negotiation tact, and the Clips underestimated the market. They also underestimated EB's desire to stay here, which is also dumbfounding.

Only a handful of people really know what exactly was said and when and the context.

Given the Clips record with dealing with players, putting a competitive product on the floor etc., they had no margin for error dealing with EB, and they jacked it up, and got nothing in return for their most prized asset. But this is the Clips we are talking about so nobody should be suprised, really.

Brand becomes the new Charles Barkley for the 76ers. He joined a great tradition of basketball, those following before him being Julius Erving, Moses Malone, Charles Barkley and many other hall of famers. I dont begrudge him for leaving, the Clippers have been a disaster in basketball for years. They should never have hesitated in making Brand their franchise player, offered him a max extension last year. They should have given him a max deal when his first restricted free agency came, instead they matched Miami's deal.

This is very much the front offices fault, for trying to cheap out on Elton and bring him in for as little as possible whenever it was time for him to renegotiate throughout his career. For bringing in marginal talent, and overpaying them, and calling the team "playoff capable" when it was really just a re-tread of the Clippers historical strategy of tanking for high draft picks and making money off us sucker fans getting excited over the years newest rookie. From Keith Closs to Mo Taylor to Michael Olowokrappy to Lamar Odom to Darius Miles to Chris Wilcox to Quinton Ross and now to Eric "Undersized" Gordon. Its the same pathetic dance year in and year out with no free agent worth his salt in this league willing to sign unless theyve got a troubled sordid past (Baron Davis) and need to maintain their "stardom" or they get traded here because their franchises have given them the Ron Artest treatment.

We hire one of the most mediocre coaches in NBA history, whos only success has been losing big with star studded teams and give him full reign to destroy whatever was good about this time with his micro-managed plays that seem to make us lose more games than win.

The whole organization needs to get blown up and start over. Until we shed the peices of this failed legacy in management we're doomed to keep recreating the same scenarios where any talent we happen to find leaves at the first chance it gets.

On the bright side, we have cap and probably a lottery pick next year. Unless of course we overpay another mediocre free agent wth all the money that should have been Eltons from the start.

Put the whole team on the auction block, starting with management. Its time for a completely new change and direction for this franchise. I went from considering a season ticket package to now being skeptical for even buying the 4 game package. Same ole shit, new decade.

I also think it's time to move on. AND, signing Davis is now the worst thing the clippers can do. Even with him, were a lottery team next year, but we aren't a top 3 pick team. Clippers should go into a complete rebuild mode. Get a top 3 pick next year. Go for the free agent class of 2010.

First prize: 1 Week in Philadelphia. Second prize: 2 Weeks in Philadelphia. Well congratulations Elton, you just got 5 years in that shit hole. Fuck you Elton you traitor. Looking forward to roasting you when you come to the Bay Area.

That story about "if he'd just returned my phone call" being the only reason he didn't sign with the Clippers sounds much too much like the Larry Brown saga of the early 90's. I'm not sure I'm buying it.

I'm skeptical though that without EB the Clips have a shot at making the playoffs. I hope that Dunleavy can prove me wrong.

this whole time, EB was the role model good guy and the clips FO were the bad guys... but the roles have reversed, and it's still hard to swallow. but the clips FO, though not the brightest bunch, is trying as hard as they can, and EB is either a lying traitor or an oversensitive puppet.

His mom is a big influence in his life, and she still has a home in New York (where Elton is from), which is close to Philly (hour train), and Elton is having a baby and his mom wanted them close. This is the main reason he changed teams, just like nthe main reason Baron came to LA.

What I can't forgive is Brand stringing us along and telling us what to do and then lying to us. He's dead to me! The Clippers are much better of without a low-life piece of trash like him!

Now that the dust has cleared a little bit, I'm leaning toward not wanting Smith or Okafor. Let Baron and the young guys play and let's evaluate the talent that we have. They just may surprise us.

Burning Questions:

Can we rely on Kaman being at least a solid, 2nd tier center going forward?

A ton of questions with Thornton, but mainly, will he develop some passing skills and integrate with the team, or are we looking at Maggette 2.0?

2008 Draft: How NBA ready is Eric Gordon? Did we waste a pick with Jordan, or did we get a steal?

He wont make us forget Brand, but can Powell build on his strong 2nd half last year and become a solid 4?

We had all of these questions to deal with whether or not Brand was coming back...now maybe with low expectations these guys can get out there and show us what they're made of. Hopefully Baron Davis can stay healthy and is invested enough to help turn these kids mature. I'll be really upset if I see Mobley and Thomas getting a lot of minutes next year.

we don't need to overpay brand. have you guys realized that he tore his achilles? there's no way brand is ever going to play the same way he did before. face it and admit it: Brand is damaged goods. did you seem him play with the clips last year? he didn't help them win when he came back. Brand doesn't deserve that kind of money for only bringing to the clips to the playoffs once 2 years ago. brand=overrated

The Times article today says that EB asked for an early termination clause to any deal..to me that's a smart play by EB cause he's been here 7 years and been on one winning Clipper team. How could you blame him for wanting this? I think part of the Clips problem is they have to come to grips with the fact that they're the Clips, and in order to keep someone of EB's stature here, you have to make concessions other teams wouldn't have to make.

Although Josh Smith would be fun to watch, not sure he's worth parting with $15M per year. His game is not exactly well-suited for Isiah Dunce either.

I think the better option for the Clips would be to offer season tix this season at 1/2 price to get us all to stick it out and leave the cap room for next year when the free agency class is as good as it'll be. The Clips will then have the tall order of getting a top notch guy here, but they'll have the $$. I don't know how many other teams will have signifigant cap space next year, but that would be worth looking into. Kevin?

In the short term, they can keep an eye on Big SOFO in the Olympics, and if he's in shape and can contribute, they should bring him in. He's a big body and can fill the paint. They can also take a stab at bringing Livy back to see if he can play at an NBA level.

The Clips should try to get Igoudala to sign a hefty offer sheet, and if he takes it then you have a great player and if not you just shot Phillys cap # through the moon, and would be fitting given how this whole thing went down with Falk.

Please trade for me. I am an A-list Power Forward that is misused on the dysfunctional New York Knicks. I will score 20 pts and grab 10 rebs next year. I will fill the void left by brand. I want to play for a contender.

I can be had cheap: for Catino Mobley and Tim Thomas and a future 2nd rounder.

With Brevin Knights salary being the only one coming off the books next year, and guys like Mobley & Thomas making the most money in the final years of their contracts, I'm not sure the Clippers would even have this much money next year going into free agency, which is why teams usually spend now (at least in 2 years we can look forward to some cap room with Mobley and Thomas coming off the books).
What's the dilly on our numbers situation, Kevin?
Thanks

If we have money, I say spend it now, cuz in 2 years we should get more money to spend as well. (sadly i think we can throw everything at okafor or j smith and both their teams will retain them)

It looks like Carlos Boozer is the only free agent of note not named Kobe(that's also not on the downside of their career) that the Clips would want. How ironic is it that Carlos Boozer is the cream of next years free agent class?

Maybe Kaman and Dirk will become good friends playing for Germany and he'll sign with us!
Oh, who am I kidding we thought the same thing with Francis/mobley and Brand/Davis. Being friends just doesn't make a difference when it comes down to it!

Look what Danny Ferry did to us when we picked him, bitch wouldn't even play. Daniel "defensive stopper" Ewing let Raja Bell make that infamous 3 pointer. And worst of all is Elton "dead to me now" Brand. No more Duke Players!

Auditions are now open for the Rick Carlisle-era Dallas Mavericks, and James Singleton believes he has what it takes.

Singleton, 26, opted out of his contract for next season with the Spanish team he played for last season to chase a second chance in the NBA. The 6-foot-8 forward, who played two seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers between stints in Europe, hasn't signed a contract yet, but that could be coming.

"I feel very confident," Singleton said Monday after a three-hour first practice for the Mavericks' summer-league team.

Great article on ESPN. As a Clipper fan who is also a Detroit Lions fan, this line really hit home for me:

Detroit Lions fans probably know best, as do Cubs fans of a certain generation: There's a unique relationship between the beleaguered fan base of a historically disastrous team and its best player -- if that guy happens to be a soulful, unimpeachable professional.

That describes the relationship between Lions fans and Barry Sanders to this day and described the relationship between Clipper fans and Elton until his defection. When Barry came to Detroit, that immediately lifted the Lions to a level of respectability they hadn't seen in years. When Barry suddenly retired just before training camp started in 1999, rational Lions fans understood why -- the Lions' culture of losing had finally wore him down (even though that was the most successful period of Lions football since the 50s). His retirement was sad, but accepted. We were all just grateful to have had the Barry era and the joy that came with having an all-time great suit up for us every week. And we knew that our hopes/dreams of success left with him.

Like Barry, EB's arrival in LA pushed the Clips up to level of respectability that didn't exist prior to his arrival. With EB's departure, I again feel like our hopes of finally cheering for a competitive and successful team left with him and we're right back to where we were before EB. Josh Smith, Okafor, Childress or whoever we end up signing will not create that vibe.

If EB had just said he wanted to leave and try to win elsewhere, we would have been disappointed, but we certainly would have understood it. EB's numerous disingenuous statements, however, leave no room for me to consider him "a soulful, unimpeachable professional" like Barry Sanders. And I think that, more than what his departure means to the product on the floor, is what disappoints me the most.

After reading Kevin's article on ESPN (excellent, by the way), the last piece of this ugly mess, the one which had felt like it was in front of me but I couldn't quite see it, finally clicked.

One of the first things that came to mind when Brand left was the odious Maurice Taylor. Except I was comparing Brand favorably, because I thought Brand had brought so much joy these years that I could eventually forgive him down the line. After all, Brand wore the Jersey with pride while he was here.

But then it truly sunk in as to what might have drove Brand lo these seven years: "his outward displays of loyalty were intended solely to bolster his 'good guy' image."

If indeed there is any validity to this, that I was at Staples whole-heartedly cheering someone who quietly, ardently resented being there the past seven years, then all I can say about Elton Brand is he's Maurice Taylor who didn't have the guts to show his true colors.I wish him no success.

I'm listening to 710 ESPN, and they both had David Falk and Mike Dunleavy in interviews with Steve Mason and John Ireland. With Falk, it was total spin-control...he said that if the Clippers wanted to, they could have offered Elton Brand a six-year deal for $102 million. He said that he has ill feelings towards the Clippers organization.

With Dunleavy...he sounded PISSED. With what published in the L.A. Daily News this morning, he confirmed the text messages that he and Brand had with each other.

Stupid Falk, as far as I know, the Clippers had to renounce their rights to Brand to clear cap space for both Davis and Brand, they could not give 6 years because they lost Brands' Bird Rights. He's a scum bag.

It's true that the Clippers could have given him the absolute max from the start. But then Brand mentioned giving the team flexibility to bring in talent with the cap room.

My first thought was Baron Davis meant Brand was staying. But many have pointed out those were never Brand's words to the media. But he seemed intent on staying, he seemed so honorable, so the organization took his signals as a positive.

I then thought that at least Brand, despite leaving, got us Baron Davis. Thank goodness foe small favors.

But after reading Art Thompson's take (posted somewhere above), my own conclusion is that Brand merely used Davis in order to get the organization to waive his bird rights by getting them to think he'd take less money.Then he turns around, leaves, and cries about not being offered the max. Classy.

ALL I CAN SAY IS WOW AFTER MIKE DUNLEAVY INTERVIEW W/MASON & IRELAND ON ESPN 710

Wow "new" information to divulge over this Elton Brand/Clippers fiasco. If you all get chance go to espn710 and download the podcast. But here's some additional info on top of what was mention above:

Elton approached Mike Dunleavy and basically said this "Coach...give me $75 million and Baron Davis and I'm good". So Dunleavy, did not negotiate or even made that ultimatum of "take or it leave it"....none of that. He was basically a messenger. Took what Elton Brand said and wanted to get the approval of Donald Sterling. Mike Dunleavy has text messages and emails from EB confirming this which he bought up in the interview. Apparently David Falk thought that Mike Dunleavy tried to go around him and NEGOTIATE this deal w/o him; which I guess infuriated him. Meanwhile, Dunleavy said that Falk was asking $150 freaking million for Elton, when Elton just wanted $75 mill and Davis. Apparently Clips got Davis expecting Elton to come back. Additional information: Dunleavy said that David Falk, constructed a letter to Andy Roser, saying that if the Clips get Baron Davis, EB is back; the letter, BTW, is a NON-binding "contract", but definitely "shows" the Clips were lied to. Crazy stuff. Don't know who to believe, but Dunleavy has proof of these conversation in writing, email, and text. And considering David Falk's iffy reputation, it further supports the Clips side. Interesting stuff.

I'd trade for David Lee. The kid is young and has tons of heart. Z-Bo's got a great game (although he no handles on the ball), but Lee has sooooo much more upside. I'd trade for Lee (over Z-Bo) in a heartbeat.

To get Lee from the Knicks, we'd have to take either Curry or Randolph. Lee is all the Knicks have to entice someone to take either of those awful contracts off their hands. No way can you get Lee without taking an awful contract with him.

Andy and ACD..I plan on letting the free agency period pass and if they don't substantially upgrade the roster, I'll go to the front office and make the case for lowering the ticket prices back to a reasonable level. I'm of the thinking that the Clips should not panic and statrt throwing $$ around..and hoping that if they do anything they use a calm head cause if they don't it'll compromise the teams cap number for many years to come and then they're really screwed.

Brand is lower than whale shit. He's using the classic scumbag ploy of making up false allegations or twisting and trying to magnify or take wrongfulu advantage of any little thing that happened during the negotiation to cover up the real fact that he wanted out but he didn't have the guts or nuts or honor to say that. That's the bottom line. Brand is a complete fraud and that is what sucks the most about this. He led everyone to believe he was somehow different from the run of the mill NBA me first type. He assiduously cultivated that image - a false one in fact. In the end Brand was no better and in fact worse than the average bum. He blew up all the fraudulent goodwill over chump change )to him) to go to a steaming stinking fresh pile of a place. Good ridance you fraudulent bastard.

Brand was looking for a way to get out of his commitments. The best that he could come up with was that "they dissed me." How lame is that? He and Falk are laughing up their sleeve at how many suckers they got to fall for that tired ploy. All the fools on the radio (570) fell for it yesterday. They are not going to say anything against a player, just blame the management and Dunleavy.

I am now a Dunleavy fan. He might be the only reason I would watch the Clippers. He was seriously wronged in this and so was the owner. So I say sign no one and do the best you can with what you have. I could really give a shite about winning some championship, I wouldn't be a Clipper fan if I did. All I care about is seeing a team that competes and works hard and hussles and has a shot to win games in the end. Entertainment for me does not require some championship caliber team, but it does require a high character team. I thought the Clippers had that with Brand, but I was wrong.

Wasn't Brand the one who was always talking about "guys auditioning for other teams", when discussing the "old" Clippers, meaning the Clippers before he turned them around? How hypocritical. Just add that to the list of Brand ill deeds given that he did his own little 8 game audition last year.

If you're looking for a discount on tickets don't bother calling the Clippers directly to buy them. Despite all of the fallout from Brand's departure, I wouldn't expect them to change the pricing structure or offer any discounts.

Fortunately, the Clips have a policy in place which allows season ticket buyers to request a full refund up through game 1 of the regular season, and that's what I'm taking advantage of.

If discounted tickets are what you're looking for, as with any other year in recent history has been to buy them from the secondary market (ebay, StubHub) from season ticket holders looking to unload a few games from their schedule. From my experience, as long as the game in questions isn't one of the most sought after games of the season (Celtics in town, etc.) they can generally be had for below face value.

Todd L..I wouldn't rule out getting the Clips to lower the prices just yet. They need to have Staples full and cannot afford a mass exodus of us paying customers. If you can, I'd reccomend hanging onto your seats and let this play out for a bit.

And ya, to your comment about the secondary market..you'll be able to buy lower bowls outside the arena from the scalpers for $5 again this year most likely.

They came out and before anything requested that all questions pertain to the event at hand (The Baron Davis introduction) and they understand issues have been circling the team over the past 10 days.

It was quick. Baron gave the usual "I'm glad to be home, and I want to help the community" speech.

Dunleavy said he was going to go with Mr. Brand, Maggette, and Udrih this season. Then Davis opt'd out and then they had salary space to pick him up.

They asked if he found it easy to sign Davis, which he responded "who said it was easy?"

They took pictures with 2 jerseys. Baron explained he had the number 85 jersey for the street he grew up on (85th) with his grandmother, and it he had his grandmothers last name so it was a tribute to her. He also had number 1, since, "We're going straight to the top!".

Dunleavy then gave him a cheesy hi-5 that only a elderly white man can give a young, hip NBA star.

Thanks Todd.
I just watched the press conference as well and man, Davis seems really glad to be here. I think it is a new generation now. A new style, we don't need that piece EB. We will shape our team around BDiddy and make it run and gun. Todd you shouldn't refund man. I might consider getting seasons.

Gotta agree with Drew for the first time.. kinda hard to think Dunleavy is smart enough to string together a story of having text messages and a written agreement that did everything EB wanted. Then EB bolts?? Damn this shit sucks. For sure the Clips mgmt is not without blame, but that interview puts a new spin on things...

RE: Falk I certainly hope Karma comes back to bite Falk in the ass. He deserves whatever ill will befalls him.

RE: Dunleavy: I know that there a lot of MDS haters out there, but I have nothing bad to say about him or management based on what he said today. I believe what he says, and I hope that vindication is somewhere around the (immediate) corner.

Now we wait, and see what else we can get this off season. I'm excited about BD, and I hope that he can give us in Clipper Land something to cheer about.

You're right about the cheap prices for tix from scalpers, but I didn't want to mention/recommend buying from scalpers because

a) Scalping isnt 100% legal

b) You may run into some less than reputable characters. Not all of the time, obviously. Fake tickets are an obvious concern, but I once got sold a "set" of three tickets where one of the three tickets was for a seat clear across the stadium from the other two. At least with StubHub, you know what you're getting, and you have some guarantees.

As for keeping my tickets, I'm entertaining the idea for now. I have until the beginning of the season after all. Brand's defection is just so discouraging; I'm sure you feel the same way. And when the product on the floor is suspect, it can sometimes be hard to find somebody who wants to drive down to STAPLES center after work on a Tuesday night to watch the game with you.

Ya..am still not a huge fan of Dunleavys coaching style but he sounded much more believable than Falk and EB after listening to all sides of the story. EB wanted out the entire time, and he now seems completely disingeniuos about his intentions to stay. That's the part that sucks about this. He'll have to live with how this went down forever now, and hope he enjoys that shithole in Philly. I've always disliked Philly teams and now EB just gave us one more reason.

Maybe coach D will actually make a concerted effort to open up the offense this year..and here's to hoping the Clips don't knee jerk into over-paying Josh Smith or Okefor. I would however like to see the Clips make a run at signing Igoudala to a huge offer sheet and make Phillys cap number go way over the cap and have to pay the luxury tax.

I just hope some good investigative writer exposes how the Agent probably split this deal due to his own agenda..
Anyway.. Moving on.. I say DONT Go for either of the 2 PF Free Agents.. Save your money for next year Tons of HUGE ALL STAR FREE AGENTS available next year LeBron, Dirk from Dallas, Kobe, etc.. Not to mention tons of big name POwer FORWARDS !!..
Look re sign Livingston.. let him try Small Forward for 1 year ( Majic Johnson played Center back in the day if you recal) .. We can go for a huge Allstar Scorer Small Forward NEXT YEAR..
Man.. THORNTON IS NOT SLOUCH MAN come on..
Line up
C Kamon, PF THORNTON SF LIVINGSON, PG B DAVIS, 2 GAURD ( our rookie Indiana Scorer Stud( I have bee seeing Hoosier Replays of their games man on HD Big Ten channell THE BOY CAN BALL. NO WORRIES !!
WE WILL BE OK.. SAVE OUR MONEY FOR NEXT YEAR FREE AGENCY MARKET WHICH IS HUGE !!
WE are gonna be ok man !!!!!
NO WORRIES NO PANIC.. DONT GO OUT AND WASTE MONEY ( OVERSPEND) On a PF that
I DONT MIND A TRADE for a stud as long as its more Future picks etc.. But nothign less man !!!!

Todd, no doubt dude..getting people to want to roll to the game was tough last year cause there was just no excitement. Staples Center was so damn boring. The games sucked, and the crowd had no life at all either. Such a huge difference from the 05-06 year.

Anyway, so what I started doing was I would bring my own mini-party to the games. I would buy 2-3 extra tix from the guys right in front of the arena (all lower bowls) for $5 or so each and bring a couple extra people. Since people in my section had given up going all together, they would sit in the open seats. There sure as hell were plenty of them. Then you make friends with the bartenders, and have yourself a good time cause the game sure as hell didn't provide much entertainment. It made the games a hell of a lot more fun dude, and that's how I was somehow able to deal with such a shitty season.

as far as I remember, there was alot of jubilee and trash talking when baron came over...almost prematurely. and as kharma will have it, this is exactly the kind of thing that happens. clippers had more than enough flexibility to make a smooth deal with brand without creating such a huge debacle. face it...competent GM/management/ownership would have had this deal in the bag. you guys blew it, live with it. even if Falk is a great and convenient scapegoat...all parties involved must share the blame. i recall a clippers blogger defending baron when he left GS. I guess it's easier when your team is not the one that's effected right? well...now u know how the rest of us feel =) good luck in 10th place next year.

Lets see how E.Gordon ,Thornton,Jordan and Taylor perform during this summer league.

I might sound foolish but what do any of you think about putting kaman at PF and D.Jordan at center? Yes D.J might not be ready but atleast the Clips would not sign any ill advised contracts. How about P.Davis at PF?

Warriors fans who think the Baron situation is the same as the Brand situation are complete and utter morons. There's no need to even elaborate further than that, since it's been done 100 times before.

I would put Davis (have to convince him to come back first) at PF with Josh Powell to start with and give D. Jordan serious minutes both at center and PF. Play Thornton at PF some too and pick up some dynamic wing player good for 20 points a game that everyone told me were a dime a dozen and that anyone in the NBA could score 20 a game. Anyway, the Clipper team should be better than last year if Gordon can give them what they hope. Consider B. Davis a slight upgrade over Maggette and at a bigger hole position wise.

Coach D already said that he is high on the rooks and is going to step up Jordan's development. He also said Kaman is one of the fastest centers in the league. He can play the running game.

Biggest problem Clips have is lack of DEFENSIVE help down low. I would look for a strong body type that could be had for cheap to bang and defend.

Livingstong may never play again, and will be nowhere near what he was before. Davis is coming back from a serious injury and may not be what he was before too.

None of those superstars you say will come to the Clippers, when has a superstar signed with the Clippers as a free agent. Baron Davis wanted to come home, and we lucked out getting him because he thought Elton would be here too.

I don't think we have many options aside from J Smith or Okafor right now (although both teams may retain them if they signed our offer sheet).

We're not as bad as some other teams. And we can hold our heads high, unlike what's his fuck.

p.s. he's still dumbleavy in my book, or the dunce...just cause Elton Brand is an asshole doesn't make Dunleavy a better coach.

This is all Falk and his mess. He has client control and messed the whole thing up for the clippers just because he wants to make a splash again in the NBA cause he needs to feed his ego. This was ALL DONE 2 days ago, we were SUPPOSED to be riding high for the next 3 months and going into the season with Kaman EB and DAVIS with two young superstars in thornton and gordon. Agreed? Brand is missing out - just like Dunleaving is saying on ESPN - THIS IS THE BARON DAVIS ERA (basically screw you elton you bastard).

Clips will not be winning any championships in 08-09 but they will win games.
Im going out on a limb and saying Mobley will be more effective and have a higher average than 12.8 ppg.
Having B.D breaking down the defense and creating shots for every one else will make for more wins, unlike last year with Knight and dan dick .

Knight is soild for 3rd string. Im not trying to bash on him.

Ross has not been consistent but not bad for minimum wage.

This season will hopefully be better than 23 wins. I am confident that it will, Far better than running down the shot clock because of poor offense and missed jump shots , possession after possession.

baron verbally agreed to resign with the warriors and play out the last year 18 million. He backed out on his verbal agreement to sign with the clippers in lure of the prospect of playing with EB. one of the undercurrents of this whole fiasco was because the warriors apparently did not give baron the impression that he was genuinely wanted.

brand verbally agreed to resign with the clippers even though he opted out. every clipper fan was 99% sure that he would resign even if it was for less money in order to play on a winning team with BD and turn the franchise around. it seems from all the media that has been printed that one of the main undercurrents in this fiasco regards the "drama" that may have lead EB to believe LA wasn't the best place for him.

Baron leaves GS to LA for less money. Brand leaves LA to Philly for more money.

wow, I didn't see how there is NOTHING similar to this situation whatsoever. I stand corrected.

I hadn't really thought about it but maybe Zach Randolph is a pretty good option now. He's a beast on offense and owns the boards. The knock on him in NY is that he doesn't play much D, but with a center who can block some shots next to him his D would look much better. Eddy Curry is the defensive liability there.

Randolph is a 20-10 guy, borderline all-star. If the Knicks are shedding salary, and we could actually get him for Mobley and Thomas I think that would make us pretty good for the next few years.

I'd rather trade for Randolph, who has 3 years on his contract, than over-pay Smith or Okafor $17 million for 5 years. All three are good players, but Randolph is cheaper AND we could unload some of our worse contracts at the same time.

Maybe we could get the Knicks to sweeten the deal by adding Nate Robinson. He is a sick athlete, explosive, and a good shooter too. One of the most exciting players in the NBA.

I'd rather have Brand at the PF, but we have to move on. I say try to trade for Zach Randolph.

We have a huge hole at power forward that D. Jordan cannot fill. He couldn't even get playing time in college. You think he's going to be so much better against NBA talent? He has so much potential that EVERY team in the NBA passed him over, some teams even passed him over two or three times. Some teams even sold their draft picks rather than draft him.

It's a waste of time and money to pay Baron $65 million only to make him play with a couple of 19 year olds.

We need to put the best team money can buy on the court next year. I think the best bang for our buck this summer might be a guy like Randolph. His value is down pretty low, but he is still highly productive, and will be for the next three years. With him you know what you are going to get: 20 pts, 10 rebs. It's what Brand would have given us. True he has character issues, but this is the N-B-Freakin'-A. Who doesn't have character issues. The guy we thought was one of the good guys turned out to be a total asshole this week.

I doubt the Knicks would ask for much in return. Some salary relief and a prospect. If they ask for Mobley and TTs contracts in return I think it's a no brainer. Include D. Jordan. It would be a great trade and our starting lineup would be one of the best in the west.

Judas...After listening to Coach on 710 and 570 tonight on Joe McDonnel, EB is definitely lying. If coach really has the text messages, then Judas & Falk would look worse than they already do. EB will be on The Herd tomorrow morning and it will be interesting to see how he responds...my guess is more lies by that scumbag.

I guess my response to that 93 is that you and I obviously have differing entertainment objectives. I could care less about putting the "best team money could buy" on the court, and I really couldn't care less about winning a championship. I care about watching and rooting for a competitive team that I can feel good about rooting for and spending money on. I couldn't root for miscreants like Randolf and Nate Robinson.

I hear you Mike, I really do. The situation totally sucks. It looked so good last week, and now here we are. But the good news is Sterling is actually willing to spend some money! I'd hate to miss that wave and fail to put a competitive team on the court. We can't alway be rebuilding.

Let's face it. Free agents don't usually sign with us. Baron did, which is awesome. Next years free agents probably won't (Kobe!), nor will the next year's.

I know Randolph has his baggage, and Nate Robinson got in that fight a few years back, but I feel like we are on verge of having a real strong team. We have a few pieces in place and a gaping hole at power forward, courtesy of the antichrist Falk.

I think if we could get Randolph without giving up too much he would vault us into contention, which would be nice for a change.

93, did you see Randolf throw that glass of water in Robinson's face while in a huddle during a game? Those two then tried to go at each other but had to be pulled apart. High comedy for the most dysfunctional team in sports. I don't think those two guys send each other Christmas cards. Randolf also got off some rape charges recently. No thanks.

Don't shift too much blame from Brand. Sure, Falk is a total unadulterated prick with ears (he really does look like one) but Brand is allegedly a grown man of some intelligence. Falk poisoned Brand on the Clips but Brand was wanting to be poisoned. He obviously didn't want to be here and was looking for any excuse to get out of his insincere commitments. He needed some excuse so he makes one up - the lamest of all - they dissed me. So then the guy trashes Dunleavy in the process? Makes up shit about the coach who basically built the team around him, ran his offense through him, and gave him whatever he wanted within reason?

People trashed Maggette on this board and Maggette HAD A REAL LEGITIMATE BEEF WITH DUNLEAVY, but Brand???? Brand was treated like royalty. Remember how Maggette refused to pile on his coach and even stood up for him when Dunleavy was in Sterling's doghouse? Compare and contrast Maggette and Brand and tell me who is the quality guy. Maggette even asked to come back to the Clips after he got his offer from GS. So obviously he had buried the hatchet with Dunleavy.

Can't believe people here who want to give up season tickets, if I ever had the opp to be in LA, i would be chasing them in a heartbeat. Try been a clips fan in Australia, you are lucky to see 4 games in a season on TV.

Still need an answer to awuestion or 2.

What did the clippers get out of letting Cassell go to Celtics?.
Is Josh Powell good enough to step up another few cogs and been a main player for the Clips?

WARRIOR FAN - your and idiot. The warriors offered davis 2 years and 25 million. The clippers offered 5 years and 65. That would make davis feel wanted, 2 years ? Its like saying, here's 2 years and 25 mil we want to see if your going to be injured and see if we get to the playoffs if not we'll let you go ok ?
Look. Brand was a LOCK. Maggette was bound to leave, him and livingston created 10+ mil in cap. Other than davis no one could command that money, beno udrih ? Hinrich ? Ford? NO. BRAND knew davis was coming which is why he needed to opt out and also why this is fucked up. Forget pulling a boozer this bitch is a brand.

Kirbs, The answer offered at the time was that Cassell was treated that way because he had the same agent as Brand; that giving Cassell an unwarranted payment for leaving would generate good will that would help grease the skids with Faulk and EB. hahahahaha Talk about a screwing! No good deed goes unpunished as we say.

07/12/08 00:49:08

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